Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1) (42 page)

To the side was a larger opening. Light blazed out. Not the sullen red glow. This light was paler, yellowish. Like sunlight.

He moved closer, steeling himself, and peered through the opening. Cracked asphalt, baking in desert sunshine. His mind fought it, but this place was too much a part of him not to recognize it. The grocery store parking lot. A waffle house down the block, a used car dealership, a dollar store. Cheap, prefab structures of fake adobe, aging fast in the pitiless sun.

The wet, hollow thwack of a baseball bat, connecting with a skull.

He turned, braced to see the grizzled man, his face splattered with Dad’s blood.

It wasn’t him. It was Mark clutching the bloodied baseball bat, grinning wildly. And it was Caro who lay crumpled and bloody and still at his feet. Her head caved in.

Noah? Noah, do you hear me?

He exploded upright, startled back into the physical world, his fist stopping just before it connected. She jerked back, and thudded to the floor on her ass.

“Never touch me when I’m having a flashback, Caro! I could have killed you!”

She recoiled. “I . . . I’m sorry!” Her sig tightened to a clot of anxious greens and grays. “I didn’t know it was a flashback. You called out my name, so I thought—”

“You scared the living shit out of me!” He flung his arm out, sweeping the a ceramic lamp off the night table, sending it crashing to the floor.

“Yo!” Sisko’s voice floated up from downstairs. “What’s up?”

Noah couldn’t get an answer out. He hunched over, fists clenched. Caro tried several times before she could speak. “We—we’re—we’re fine,” she called out.

“Noah?” There was a harder tone in Sisko’s voice.

“We’re good,” Noah called out. “Lamp fell. No problem.”

He was horrified at what he’d almost done. For years he’d thought he’d licked this. He was wrong. One bad imbed, and he was nailed right back to the wall. Falling to pieces before her eyes.

Caro was huddled on the floor. Afraid of him.

Desperately, he slid off the bed onto his knees and seized her. He nuzzled her silky hair, inhaling its silken, perfumed warmth. The sensory data of her perfume formed incredible visuals in his mind. Even with eyes shut, she dazzled him. His whole body was a wide-open eye, worshipping her.

He held her tighter.
God.

“Sorry I yelled,” he muttered. “It scared me, that I almost hit you.”

Her hands slid into his hair, petting and soothing him. “I’m sorry, too. That I startled you. Was it . . . what do you call it again? An imbed?”

“Yeah. My analogs are all compromised. Even new ones. Don’t know why.”

“Tell me about it,” she suggested. “Maybe it would help.”

“No.”

Her fingers stopped for a moment, and then resumed their slow, soothing caresses. “OK,” she murmured. “Whatever.”

He should have sent her away days ago. He’d kept her for his own comfort. And not just for the sex. She kept him balanced. His pre-Caro equilibrium was trashed. If he couldn’t keep the combat program under control with his analogs, then proximity to Caro was his only alternative. She reinforced the underlying structures inside him so that the ASP and AVP could rage full force without driving him nuts. He retained his capacity for rational thought, impulse control. Decision making.

With Caro, AVP was a powerful resource, not a caged monster.

But she had to go. He’d have to stay on top of the AVP without her. Unchilled. Unsoothed. No diving. He had no idea how he’d pull it off. He was terrified to fuck things up. Let them all down. Get them all killed.

He was ashamed to have Caro see him in this condition. His own fault, for keeping her here.

They ought to get up off the goddamn floor at the very least. The bed was a whole lot softer.

He got up and onto the bed, fully intending to sit her right next to him.

She sat down on his lap, before he could stop her. His body’s reaction was instantaneous.

She kissed his forehead, shifting and wiggling her ass over his stiff, aching cock. Her lips were so soft. Light bloomed on his skin like bioluminescence wherever she touched him. She kissed his lips, her tender tongue flicking against his.

He pulled away, and slid her off his lap and onto the bed beside him. “Bad idea,” he said roughly.

“Bullshit!”

He was startled by her sharp tone. “What? What the hell is your problem?”

“Don’t play dumb,” she snapped. “I want you. I need to be close to you. We both need it. I’m sorry you got zapped by your imbed, but you appear to be fine, so get over it.” She reached out and gripped his stiff, aching cock
. Her skillful stroke and twist made him gasp sharply, a shudder of pleasure racking him.

He trapped her hand, held it still. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He was trying so hard not to drown in this thing, and she just would not get it.

“I’m not playing hard to get,” he said. “Of course I want to fuck you. That’s a given. But I’m messed up right now. Thirteen years I’ve been busting my ass to manage my stress reaction and maintain impulse control. I thought I’d beat it. I was wrong.”

Her fingers tightened, stroking. The sensual caress made him clench his teeth.

“What’s wrong with this impulse?” she asked. “I love this impulse.”

He dragged her hand away from his shaft and held it tight
to make it fucking behave. “You’re
not listening,” he said roughly. “I always lose control with you.”

“Have you heard me complain?”

“That’s not the point,” he snarled.

She huffed out an impatient breath. “So what the fuck is the point? I’m lost.”

He grabbed her other hand, and squeezed. “Be patient,” he begged. “Please. I have to come up with an analog that’s not mined with imbeds. Not easy, OK?”

“I think a blow job would work better for you.”

His heart revved, and his dick twitched and throbbed. His combat program was scrolling madly, but he barely noticed it, staring at the hot challenge in her eyes.

“Uh . . .” He stopped and swallowed carefully. “Not a good idea.”

“Let go of my hands,” she said. “I’ll show you exactly what I mean.”

He maintained his tight grip, but his mouth felt dry. “Don’t push me.”

“I’d grip you, right at the root. And lick you up and down,” she said. “Until you’re shiny and wet. Hot and thick. Filling my mouth. I love that. I’ll pull you in deep, and suck you, and lick you . . . and make you scream with pleasure.” Her voice was throaty and caressing. Her fingers curled around his, squeezing. “Until you’re helpless and gasping. Out of control. Exploding in my mouth. Mmm. Love that. Yum.”

“Goddamnit, Caro,” he growled.

She lifted his hands and kissed his knuckles. Hot, silky kisses that he could feel against his cock. Where he automatically felt all her seductive suggestions.

She looked up, meeting his eyes. “Can you tell how turned on I am, just by looking at my sig?”

He scanned her shifting halo of colors. He was so used to being bare-eyed with her by now, it seemed as normal as any other sensory detail he might notice, like the way her nipples poked through the fine silk robe. “Yeah.” His voice felt raw.

“Not fair,” she said. “My feelings are written in neon for you to read whenever you feel like it. But I can’t read you. Not when you shut me out.”

“I’m trying to keep you safe,” he said.

“I am safe,” she said sharply. “You’re trying so hard to control everything. Yourself, me, everyone else. It’s not working. It’s not necessary, either. Let go.”

His jaw ached with tension. “The last time I let go, I almost put my fist through your throat.”

She shook her head. “I’m not worried about that.”

“You goddamn well should be,” he told her.

“I know you, Noah. Way down deep. And I want to make you come. Let me.”

The hypnotic cadence of her voice were like magic, softening his rigid grip. She felt the moment her spell worked on him and her smile flashed, wide and delighted.

“I don’t know how to let go,” he warned. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

“Don’t worry. I got you covered.” She slid off the bed and leaned forward, fumbling with the drawstring of his sweatpants. Letting his hugely erect dick spring out.

She took him in hand, squeezing and stroking, then leaned in to swirl her hot tongue around the head of his rod, licking up precome. He sucked in air, muscles clenched, fingers digging into the edge of the mattress. AVP surging and red hot.

He should stop her, but he couldn’t. Too damn good. Every wet, pulling, suckling stroke destroyed him. She was taking him to pieces . . .

No.
Panic surged, along with the explosion. No retreat. No escape.

A huge blast. Deep throbbing pulses of pleasure. Blinding light.

His eyes opened. He was flat on his back on the bed. Limp and gasping.

Caro was still there. She was OK. He hadn’t done anything terrible. Not yet.

He focused on the vision before him. Her hair was draped over his thighs like the folds of a silk scarf. She smiled at him as she discreetly wiped her mouth.

Delirious pleasure still pulsed through every nerve. “God, Caro. That was . . .”

“Yes indeed. Absolutely. It was.” She sounded pleased with herself. “I don’t know about you, but I call that progress. Oh, I have a surprise for you. Want to see?”

The last thing his nerves needed was a surprise. He jerked
up
onto his elbows.

She read his expression. “Just for fun,” she reassured him. “To make you smile.”

She stood up, and let the silk robe fall to the floor.

He sat bolt upright with a gasp, his hard-on refreshed in a hot instant. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“Do you like it?” She lifted up her hair over her head and spun around, displaying herself proudly.

“You didn’t answer my question. But fuck, yeah, I like it. A lot.” He stared at her, dazzled. “My dick is going to explode. Again.”

She looked mystified. “It has that effect on you, even in the dark?”

“What dark? This room is flooded with light. Some of it is blazing out of you.”

She smiled demurely. “I could wear this pretty thing under my clothes, and you’d see the collar as you look at me across the dinner table, and know I’m wearing it under my clothes. And thinking about you. Inside me.”

“I don’t need the slightest encouragement to think about being inside you.”

“Good.” She spun, swaying her hips. “I thought that a romp with the naughty nympho playmate from the porno planet might lighten you up. It’s your turn to be the bed toy.”

“Bed toy?” That startled him out of his horndog reverie. “What the fuck is that about?”

“You’ve been freezing me out,” she told him. “And then coming in to ravish me in the night. My demon lover.”

He studied her, slit-eyed. “Seemed like you were into it,” he said cautiously.

“Of course I was into it,” she said tartly. “The sex is not the problem. But I didn’t come here to scold you tonight. I had other plans.” She swirled her fingertip tenderly in the slick drop of precome pooling on the head of his cock, and licked it.

Still, he hesitated. “Is this a trap?” he asked warily.

She gaped at him. “What?”

“You’re pissed at me. I see it in your sig.”

She laughed out loud at him. “What if I am? I still want you. And I’m tired of tiptoeing around you. Get used to having me all up in your face. This is a very straightforward seduction. No traps or tricky stuff. Don’t be a humorless jerk. Lighten up.”

“Oh, babe.” A burst of laughter shook him. “I would do anything for you. But lightening up is too much to ask of me.”

“OK, fine.” She swung her leg over him. “Be dead serious, then.” She smiled down through the shadowy fall of her hair. “As long as you give me what I want.”

She poised herself over him, holding his stiff rod at the perfect angle to sink right down onto him. He seized her waist, holding her still. “Let me get you ready.”

“I am ready,” she said. “And I need you, inside me.
Now.
”

“But it’ll be better for you if I—”

“Listen to me, Noah Gallagher.” Her voice had a commanding ring. “You can’t always call the shots if you want to be with me. We will alternate. Understand? One day, maybe it’s your turn. The next day, it’s my turn. I’ve been meaning to clarify that for a while now, and this seems like the right time. Is that perfectly clear?”

“Uh . . . yeah. Sure.” The heat in her eyes made his dick throb. He trailed his hand down her belly, toying with the pendant. “Damn, you’re beautiful in this thing.”

“If you’re trying to distract me, it won’t work
.” She preened, lifting her hair. “
But I’m glad that you like it.”

He gathered up a thick lock of her hair, pressed it to his face and inhaled. “Your scent has a color too,” he told her. “My mods translate all sensory input into visual data. Just for the pure fucking hell of it.”

“Noah,” she murmured, a shiver rippling down her back at his touch.

“Sounds, too,” he said. “Everything. Your voice is a violet blue. Like the evening sky. I’m so strung out on it, I can’t even breathe without you. I am so screwed.”

She slid her fingers into his short, glossy hair. “Noah,” she whispered again.

He pressed his face to her breasts. The glittering chain that plunged from collar to waist stroked his face, warm from the heat of her body. Her taut nipple caressed his cheek.

“You sneaky bastard,” she said. “I was trying to be tough with you, and you go over-the-top romantic on me. Not fair. Goddamnit.”

“Didn’t do it on purpose.” He made a choked, keening sound as she slid the head of his cock along her moist slit, and then nudged it tenderly inside. Her hips pulsed, kissing his blunt tip with her slick entrance. Wet, licking, teasing promises of all the slick heaving and plunging to come.

That was it. The last bit of his resistance gave way. He jackknifed up, catching her in his arms. Kissing her with frenzied intensity, no holding back. He wasn’t going to hurt her, scare her. She was divinely powerful, a goddess, a rippling flame in his arms.

He groaned as she took his cock slowly inside herself. The clutch of her body yielding to him was a caressing agony of pleasure. Loved, licked, enveloped by heat, by wet. Painted by the hot colors of her body’s snug clasp.